FIGJAM

A nice and early finish today, which is great for a Friday. Nothing worse than hanging about all afternoon wishing you could be out doing... stuff...

Yeah.

So a very exciting ward round today, especially one patient who seemed to have actually* had every possible medical problem previously. She was in high spirits though, despite the pain and it seemed that she needed blood taken for random tests (specifically FBC, EUC, Coags and LFTs). Being the great blood thief that I am, the task was left to me.

So as the ward round continued on as I was set loose on the ward looking for tools of the trade, being tempted by the copious amounts of food left out in the open...

The patient being a nurse, as well as having a rare blood condition (essential thrombocythemia!) was very used to taking blood and having blood taken from her (amusingly, a name I recognised in her history was her haematologist, a past lecturer and course coordinator with the initials BK...). She happily consented to my thievery of her blood and decided that as I looked quite amateurish (despite me taking the time to prepare my "confident face"), would talk me through it. I started by asking her to sit down and expose a preferred arm for me, which she obliged, showing me the one vein she liked to call "old faithful" (right arm, cubital fossa). She confidently stated that there was no chance of missing it, and I gave a polite little laugh, all the while thinking that she"ll probably regret challenging me like that...

Surprisingly, she was right.

After marvelling at my choice of instruments (butterfly + vacuum) and allowing me to alcoholerise her skin, I waited the customary few seconds for complete dryness and dove straight in. Immediate flashback. I somehow managed to maintained my "confident face" instead of reverting to my "shocked face" and started plugging in the tubes, one at a time, starting with the coags (yes, must remember that...). I started to wonder whether I had struck an artery, as each of the tubes filled in approximately 2.4 seconds. I then realised how nice it is taking blood from a (relatively) healthy and young woman, rather than a ninety-something old man with calcified veins and powder for blood.

After that was all done, she congratulated me and stated that it was wonderfully done, handing me her imaginary "FIGJAM" cape. As I hadn"t heard that term before, I had to ask her what that was, and the answer made me feel a lot more confident for the future.

FIGJAM.



* as opposed to those interesting patients who just think they"ve had every possibly medical problem previously...